UP Police unearths Rs 4,200 cr frauds linked to Chinese operators

The Uttar Pradesh Police's cyber crime wing has unearthed pan-India frauds to the tune of Rs 4,200 crore linked to criminals based in China, a senior official said on Friday.

Police have tracked connection in frauds related to crypto trading, instant loan lending apps and fake job advertisements through bulk SMSes to China, UP Cyber Crime Superintendent of Police Triveni Singh said.

Police had earlier this year found a link of China-based operators in cheating of crores of rupees from people across India through instant loan lending apps and part-time job offers in leading companies, he said.

"We had earlier detected a scam worth around Rs 3,000 crore linked to China. But now their connection has also been established in frauds on the pretext of crypto currency trading through bogus and fake websites," Singh told PTI.

"These people now created fake websites and apps for crypto trading and lure people into investing money in return for huge profits. But in reality whatever profits they see is only on websites and apps while the investors never get any money back," the UP cyber police chief explained.

On how the money reaches the foreigners running such frauds, Singh said the funds first go to local Indian bank accounts and digital wallets of those associated in the scam.

"The money is then transferred to Zebpay (a crypto currency exchange platform accessible in India) to Binance (an international crypto exchange platform) and then accessed by the masterminds of the whole scam," he added.

Singh said this is a huge racket and some of the operators are located in Nepal also but ultimately being controlled from China.

He said the Reserve Bank of India has also taken cognisance of such frauds and directed agencies concerned for measures to check them.

"The instant loan apps, the part-time job offers and now the crypto trading fraud, all of them are being operated by the same hackers from China. The SMS aggregators are also involved in it," he said.

"This fraud is so far estimated worth Rs 4,200 crore and linked to Chinese operators," he added.

The UP cyber police chief also urged the people to be cautious during online transactions and use dedicated helpline 1930 to report any such offense.

"If people receive any offer for part-time job, or instant loan or huge returns on crypto currency trading, then there are high chances of these being fraud attempts from Chinese operators. People need to be careful," Singh added.